PASADENA — When Tim Kelly was 15, he did some stupid things and got arrested.

But rather than ending up in a juvenile incarceration facility, the arresting police officer in Richmond, Va., took pity on the ninth-grader.

“He worked with me, reached me and turned me around,” Kelly said.

Now, Kelly is associate professor of psychology and director of clinical training at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, part of the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. But he knows his life may have taken a different turn had he ended up in jail.

That’s why he believes in what he calls “a court of second chances,” or a juvenile mental-health court.

The purpose of such a court, the first of which was created in 2001 in Santa Clara, is to divert some juvenile offenders to receive treatment or intervention that could be an alternative to incarceration.

“I can attest to the fact that if you give a kid a second chance, it can work,” he said.

Kelly and others are working to make such a court a reality in Pasadena as soon as January of next year. Funding for the court would come from the state Department of Health, which has responded with positive feedback on the idea.

Kelly and other proponents of the juvenile mental-health court believe that many of the crimes committed by youths, particularly first-time offenders, stem from mental-health issues or drug abuse.

For example, a teen who steals money could be doing so to support a drug habit. Or, one who lashes out with violence and is arrested for assault could be suffering from severe depression.

However, Kelly said, if these juveniles are incarcerated at the California Youth Authority, they could “start the long spiral down, learning the tricks of the trade to become real juvenile delinquents.”

The assistance provided by juvenile mental-health court could give youths “a second chance such that we won’t see them again in the justice system,” he said.

Late last year, Proposition 63, known as the Mental Health Services Act, passed. It uses a 1 percent tax on incomes more than $1 million to generate more than $800 million annually for mental-health services. In December 2004, Kelly wrote an op-ed piece in the Pasadena Star-News suggesting that these funds could be used to create such a court in the city of Pasadena.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard and Police Chief Bernard Melekian quickly jumped on board with the idea. The three men –along with Western Justice Center Foundation Executive Director Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Candace Beason (who was later replaced at the meetings by her successor, Judge Philip Soto) and occasionally Los Angeles County Department of Health Deputy Director for Adult and Juvenile Justice Programs Cora Fullmore — began monthly breakfast meetings to discuss the implementation of such a court.

“It’s certainly not a well-established approach, but I think it’s progressive,” Bogaard said. “Any program like this needs to be very carefully structured and then very carefully monitored. But I have confidence in the participants of this effort.”

In fact, Kelly noted in his op-ed piece that treatment compliance is monitored, and the youths are expected to attain the expected outcome or they will again face charges.

The role the Pasadena Police Department will play in this court would be identifying young people in need of services provided by this type of a court.

Melekian noted that the Police Department has already had some experience with this because of its Youth Accountability Board, which helps first-time offenders.

“It’s the same concept — intervening early,” he said. “The mental health … counseling portion is a very critical piece.”

Kelly said the idea with a juvenile mental-health court in Pasadena would be to start out small, taking place two out of five days of the week in the Pasadena Superior Court in the regular juvenile courtroom.

Doing it this way will keep costs down, Kelly noted, because the regular players — a district attorney, public defender, judge and probation officers — will continue to play their regular roles. The only addition would be a mental-health professional, who would handle the screening process, triage and referral, as well as oversee the progress made by the juveniles who have been referred for treatment.

Although the cost for the court in Pasadena is not currently known, Kelly said it should be minimal.

Fullmore said she was impressed to see the city’s leaders come together to push this idea.

“It really speaks to their forward-thinking and their wanting to be positively involved in their community,” she said. “I think it has every potential for working and for us seeing some very positive outcomes for the people and their families.”

Molly R. Okeon can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4496, or by e-mail at molly.okeon@sgvn.com.

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